We won’t celebrate moment unionists secured ‘their wee statelet,’ says Sinn Fein’s Mary Lou McDonald of Northern Ireland centenary BelfastTelegraph.co.uk Sinn Fein president Mary Lou McDonald has said her party will not be part of celebrations to mark the centenary of the creation of Northern Ireland saying it was the moment unionists secured their “wee statelet”. https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/we-wont-celebrate-moment-unionists-secured-their-wee-statelet-says-sinn-feins-mary-lou-mcdonald-of-northern-ireland-centenary-37448965.html https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/incoming/article37409602.ece/19dd6/AUTOCROP/h342/bpanews_a08dac61-fcf2-4058-9877-e6d42a918d79_1 Email Sinn Fein president Mary Lou McDonald has said her party will not be part of celebrations to mark the centenary of the creation of Northern Ireland saying it was the moment unionists secured their “wee statelet”. The Dublin TD, in an interview with the Irish Times, said her party needed to be “very thoughtful in terms of what we say and how we comport ourselves for that particular occasion”. “No we don’t celebrate the establishment of the Northern state or partition,” she said. Northern Ireland will be 100 in 2021. The DUP has argued for a public holiday to mark the occasion. “Obviously, for unionists, that was the moment where they secured their ‘wee statelet’; and for Irish nationalism it is the moment when people woke up one morning and said: ‘What happened there?’” Mrs McDonald said. “In terms of the border and the establishment of the northern state, I think for us as republicans it is a pause point to actually reflect back on the establishment of the state itself and the experience thereafter.” Sinn Fein’s Irish presidential election Liadh Ni Riada said she would wear the poppy if elected… [Read full story]